Following a bye as the No. 2 seed, Daniil Medvedev will kick off his Hangzhou campaign against qualifier Nishesh Basavareddy on Saturday. The winner will meet either Sebastian Korda or Yibing Wu in the quarterfinals.
(Q) Nishesh Basavareddy vs. (2) Daniil Medvedev
Medvedev will be playing for the first time since his infamous U.S. Open loss to Benjamin Bonzi when he takes the court on Saturday at the Hangzhou Open. This is also marks Medvedev’s first appearance since splitting from coach Gilles Cervara. The 29-year-old is in the midst of a horrible season that has him down at 18th in the rankings, and he still has not won an ATP title since the spring of 2023 in Rome.
Up first for Medvedev is a second-round matchup with Basavareddy. Whereas the second seed is playing his first match of the week, Basavareddy already has three victories under his belt–two in qualifying followed by a 4-6, 6-4, 6-3 defeat of defending champion Marin Cilic. This is a dangerous match for Medvedev, because the 20-year-old American is a rock-solid counter-puncher who will put a lot of balls in play. If the Russian serves well, though, he may be able to win just enough free points to advance.
Pick: Medvedev in 3
(WC) Yibing Wu vs. Sebastian Korda
It will be a battle between injury-plagued players when Korda and Wu also collide for the first time in their careers on Saturday. Wu will obviously have the Chinese crowd fully on his side, just as he did in round one against Adrian Mannarino–whom the 25-year-old knocked off 4-6, 7-6(5), 7-5. That was Wu’s third ATP-level match victory of the season, a large part of which he has missed due to injury.
Wu comes in at No. 196 in the world, while Korda is also ranked far below where he should be at No. 79. The 25-year-old American missed all of the grass-court swing, withdrew from Winston-Salem because of illness prior to the semifinals, and then retired from his first-round match at the U.S. Open. Korda did well to beat Adam Walton 7-5, 6-3 on Friday, but the former world No. 15 obviously remains a question mark. In fact, it would be a little bit surprising if this match doesn’t end in retirement one way or the other. Korda is not overly reliable at the moment, but he is more reliable than Wu.
Pick: Korda in 2
WWW?
Medvedev in 3, Wu in 3
Sounds like it will be a short match in two depending on fitness, take your pick, Id agree Korda slightly more reliable
And who would be surprised if Meddy lost
surprised yes. shocked not at all.
Would be pleasant surprise if he played better and won two matches
If he won the tournament … a stretch
The sad thing is that, when Basa wins, people will blame it on Medvedev’s free fall, even as in reality it will just be a plain, old-fashioned beatdown.
Wu will be highly motivated since he’s currently not on the tour and playing at home, but he’s not looked that good since returning in May, Korda is playing the better tennis right now generally speaking, also Wu has not retired from a match since he’s comeback, also if Korda retired due to illness, not injury it’s nonsense that this match is likely to end in a retirement, Korda in 3.